Darla Joseph, vice president of Nucla-Naturita Telephone Company (NNTC), went before Nucla’s board of trustees at the July 23 meeting in the public comment to express disappointment. She said she needed to address the board so that there was no misunderstanding. Joseph said NNTC has been a part of the community for 80 years and has invested in and supported Nucla.
According to her, statements made at the July 9 town meeting were “misleading” and contained false information. She said a claim was made that NNTC has an agreement with T-Mobile to raise tower heights, but that claim is false. She said there’s no agreement with T-Mobile, or with other carriers, to do that.
She said she wished town board members would’ve come to her and discussed the information they were sent. She wants to see the Town of Nucla advocate for local businesses.
She added NNTC is not afraid of competition; she said the phone company just wants fairness and transparency. And, she said NNTC has roaming agreements with other carriers.
Later, in the meeting, Tim Pierce did read a copy of Joseph’s letter, since it was an agenda item. Then, Mayor Paula Brown said she relied on the information sent to her and admitted she didn’t fact-check. Still, she said she took no side on the matter. Brown said so many people are criticizing the board on matters of transparency. She wanted to share the information she was given when it arrived.
“It was not meant to be a bashing,” she said. “That was not the intent.”
The email Brown was given prior to the July 9 meeting stated two additional cell towers were going in, with a Main Street address that indicated NNTC had something to do with it. She said she assumed NNTC was behind the two new cell towers, which are going to be 5G.
Related to cell towers, officials from Vertical Bridge, the company building the monopole at the top of Nucla, will have a public meeting Aug. 11 at 6 p.m. at Nucla Community Center.
In other town news, trustees were working on a letter of reciprocity with other local municipalities on the subject of “man camps,” or “work camps.” While the Four Seasons Hotel in Mountain Village has purchased the Rimrock Hotel in Naturita for their employee housing, they’re apparently working with landowners in the area to establish man camps. Representatives from Merrimac Ventures, who are building the Four Seasons, have been on site in local communities. After a community leader Zoom call, concerns were raised.
Nucla trustees said Mountain Village stands to gain some $12.5 million from the project with regard to impact. They’d like to know what the West End is going to get for housing the people that are coming.
Trustees have heard that a Redvale property may be the site of a man camp; so is a former trailer park in Nucla. Trustees said the impacts to West Montrose County could be huge.
Though, the camps would skirt lodging taxes. The camps may be bringing in barracks and shower houses, along with their own kitchen sites. They could house as many as 250 people, town officials said.
Town Clerk Melissa Lampshire said San Miguel County has tightened their land use code, and they don’t want the camps, so they’re moving to the West End. The mayor said she’d keep everyone informed. Trustee Penni Philbrick said the camps would have union workers, not local construction companies, and the hotel would hire internationally too. Tim Pierce said similar camps for oil and gas don’t typically let workers off site much, so there’s not much economic benefit either.
Trustees did discuss the Four Seasons potentially creating an industrial laundry facility in the West End. Trustees also mentioned impacts to water, sewer, the roads and traffic through Norwood.
